


To Enlighten, To Enjoy

by sadsparties



Category: Les Misérables - Victor Hugo
Genre: Gen, Masturbation, Medical Reading, Reading Aloud
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-16
Updated: 2013-10-16
Packaged: 2017-12-29 13:31:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1006015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sadsparties/pseuds/sadsparties
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Combeferre and Joly read a book and try to be academic about it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	To Enlighten, To Enjoy

There was no gathering to be held in the Musain that night. Combeferre had thought that he would be safe in its confines for an hour of intensive reading. What he had not counted on was Joly having the same thoughts, so when the door opened to reveal their winged friend, he had hastily closed the book and swept it under the folds of his coat.

“What have you there?” Joly asked, his nose the usual shade of red. Combeferre, despite a few misgivings, thought better of it and held out the book to Joly. Joly’s eyes squinted from reading the title.

“Oh, I know this!” he burst out, much to Combeferre’s surprise. “Is this the infamous treatise that has become popular all over the city? The one that’s been selling like fruit tarts?”

Combeferre was not aware of this fact. It would explain his difficulty in procuring the copy at hand. “I did not know that it was well-received. Perhaps that is why my mentor mentioned it,” he said as he read the title upside down. “I had thought to learn its contents for conversation fodder, but on reading the first chapters,” he gestured vaguely, “I am not so keen on it.”

Joly grinned. “Not for an intimate conversation, yes, but I imagine it would be engaging for a class, which is probably why it’s required reading in mine.”

“It is?” Joly nodded in affirmation.

“What has the Ecole come to?”

Joly gave him a sympathetic smile. “Merely an increasing interest in the pervading medical home treatments. We have yet to discuss its merits, which is fortunate as I have yet to find a copy.” Joly took the book and scanned the back cover. “Where did you find this one, by the way? All the usual booksellers have run out, and this one looks different.”

“Ah, it is an edition in English.” Combeferre smiled sheepishly, remembering his earlier exploits in the more obscure booksellers. “It was the only copy available, the rest having been gobbled by some curious soul who did not know better.”

Joly flipped through the pages, skipping chapters and reading a few passages with increasing amusement. His grin reached its peak when he came to the last page.

“This is indeed an interesting edition.” Combeferre, only a quarter through the book, was momentarily puzzled. “Shall I lend it to you then? I can finish it quickly.”

“No! No!” Joly insisted. “My English is not so good, appalling really. Maybe you could,” and here Joly paused, thinking of the score of consequences that his next words may bring, “read it to me.”

\-- - --

Joly clung to the chair like a lover as he bellowed to his heart’s content. His laughter was like a cat’s purr, soft and asthmatic, but light-hearted. Combeferre was stuck with a painful expression and kept himself from groaning.

“You would do well to quench your humour,” he said. “We are only in the preface.”

“Pardieu!” Joly exclaimed between breaths. “But even you would find it ridiculous that the translator admitted that the book’s success was spurred by Parisian libido!”

Combeferre’s painful expression worsened. “That is not what the preface says,” he said patiently. “It only states that the original was received favorably enough, granted by its numerous French editions, that the English public may benefit from such knowledge.” Joly’s manic laughter did not abate. “And I will have you know that I reached the three-quarter mark last night and it says nothing of the mechanics whatsoever, merely the effects and treatments.”

Joly sobered enough to deliver, “Oh, I would not think you were one to need instruction on the mechanics.” His grin reached his ears and his shoulders visibly shook. Combeferre was unperturbed. “Shall we continue?”

\-- - --

The agreement was made. Combeferre would read the book in their spare time while Joly took notes. Ideally, they would use the Musain’s backroom, as the treatise’s contents were not fit for public discussion. When Combeferre told Enjolras of the arrangement, Enjolras was slightly impressed.

“It must be a formidable treatise then, to have roused Joly’s interest so much as to sit down and spend a part of his day in study.” Combeferre managed an empty chuckle. As he adjusted his coat, he felt the book inside and recalled its title — “A Treatise on the Diseases Produced by Onanism, by Tissot, M. D.”. It was a small book, easily concealed should someone find it too scandalous. His eyes fluttered to Enjolras. It was indeed a formidable book.

\-- - --

“The treatise begins by citing various cases recorded from Greek and Roman times on how abundant indulgence prostrates the strength and idles the mind.” Combeferre skimmed the page for examples. “Galen recorded that a man who had recently recovered from a violent disease died the same night after coition with his wife.” Joly paled. “Pliny the naturalist stated that Cornelius Gallus, an old praetor, and Titus Etherius, a Roman knight, died in the act of copulation. Several cite specific symptoms of the disease: pale skin, sunken eyes, deranged stomach, weak legs, apoplexy,” Combeferre turned a page, “paralysis, gangrene, impaired memory —”

He stopped when Joly's boot, settled on the table and hitherto swinging merrily, stopped. The colour had drained from his audience' face. “Shall I continue?” Joly swallowed, his arms crossed tightly across his chest, but he nodded. “Can we get to the next chapter?” Combeferre flipped a few pages and read the section, “Consequences of Masturbation in Females”.

He stole a look at Joly whose face was twisted in concentration. Combeferre managed a cough. “on to languishing skin then.”

\-- - --

“‘Coition’ says Democritus, ‘is a kind of epilepsy.’ These convulsions astonishingly weaken the body and affect the nervous system.”

Joly could not deny the first half of the statement, but he questioned the second. Their table was laden with sheets of hurried notes, and Joly fumbled for a blank page. He looked to Combeferre and asked, “How exactly does it come to affect the nervous system?” His hand poised with a pencil, ready to write.

Combeferre smiled and scanned the next paragraphs. “Hoffman states that the act increases blood in the brain and could lead to mania, with the mind being more susceptible to impressions and debility.”

Joly nodded gravely. His hand glided through the note paper.

\-- - --

Combeferre tossed his coat to the chair and collapsed on the bed. He set aside his spectacles and buried his face on the sheets. The day had been tiresome, what with lectures, dissections, shifts at the hospital, and reading sessions with Joly. He was in the brink of exhaustion, and he barely registered Enjolras’s entrance. After exchanging their usual pleasantries, he resumed to attempt sleep.

“Is this the book that you are reading to Joly?”

Combeferre turned his head so violently he may have torn a muscle. Never had he transitioned from sleep to wake so quickly. The book, in his haste to relieve himself of the coat, had flown out of the pocket and unto the floor, and Enjolras had picked it up to examine the cover. His eyes squinted and his lips silently mouthed the words. At the sight of this, Combeferre let himself exhale a sigh of relief. He recalled that Enjolras was not as proficient in the English language. He felt his heartbeat slow. “Yes, we are almost through,” he said as he turned back to the pillow. “We have only one more chapter and then the appendix. The experience has been enjoyable.”

“Enjoyable?”

“Hmm,” Combeferre mumbled against the cushions, eager to rest. “I did not expect to derive pleasure from it and yet I did,” he said, remembering how Joly had progressed from treating the matter as a joke to taking on a more educational approach.

“Of course,” Enjolras replied, his voice not as assured as it usually sounded. “I would imagine anyone would derive pleasure from this.”

At his alarming tone, Combeferre turned and saw him examining the last page that could only be the appendix. Enjolras held it up for him to see. His expression, while demanding an explanation, was highly amused. Combeferre’s was only filled with horror.

The English edition had illustrations.


End file.
